Meetings watch - May 30

Tucumcari City Commission

At its Thursday meeting, The Tucumcari City Commission:

• Approved an allocation of about $62,000 in city funds to cover the city’s share of operating funds for the Tucumcari Senior Center. The city allocation represents about 18 percent of the center’s $345,000 annual operating budget, Director Clara Rey said. About 11 percent comes from donations from senior center users, and 71 percent comes from state and local sources. Rey said that this year, for the first time in years, the senior center has “operated in the black.”

• Voted to waive business license fees for the carnival that will accompany the Quay County Fair in August 2018. The waiver request came from the Quay County Fair Board.

• Delayed action on allowing a $23,500 Lodger’s Tax allocation for a proposed “Rockin’ Route 66” event after discussion in a public work session before the regular commission meeting. The discussion included a phone conversation by Skype with the event’s organizer, Brian Whitcomb of Hot Pan Productions, an Atlanta, Ga., firm. The event would be aimed at a “customized car culture” that centers on old cars and rockabilly music, similar to the Rockabilly on the Route event that had four successful runs in Tucumcari, but did not repeat this year. After the discussion, a vote on the allocation was removed from the regular meeting’s agenda.

• Learned from interim City Manager Mark Martinez that the city’s application for a grant to plan a tire recycling facility had failed. The grant application had been submitted to the New Mexico Solid Waste Bureau. Martinez said his staff has asked in writing how the city could improve its next grant proposal.